Futuristic Skyscraper Concept Hangs From Asteroid Orbiting Earth

Instead of building from the ground up, one architecture firm has a proposal to build from the sky down—or space, rather.

The out-of-this-world idea, dubbed Analemma Tower, involves a mixed-use building that hangs via cables from an asteroid orbiting Earth, leaving its occupants to parachute from the building to exit.

(Clouds Architecture Office)

It’s a product of the aptly-named Clouds Architecture Office, which has designed concepts for comet-hitching space travel and 3D-printed homes on Mars, Dezeenreports.

The foundation, containing an extendable core, would be tethered to the asteroid in Earth’s orbit. Pre-fabricated units would be hoisted up from Earth and installed into the building.

(Clouds Architecture Office)

The orbital path would swing the tower in a figure eight pattern over Earth—passing above major cities like Quito, Panama City, Havana, Atlanta, and New York.

Analemma Tower involves bringing an asteroid into Earth’s orbit, which Clouds Architecture Office says “is no longer science fiction.” It has been demonstrated possible by space agencies. “NASA has scheduled an asteroid retrieval mission for 2021 which aims to prove the feasibility of capturing and relocating an asteroid,” the firm says on its site.